"We the jury find the defendant...guilty!"

Mary Jane's heart sank upon hearing the verdict. She couldn't believe it; they had fought so hard, had done so much to prove Liz's innocence, but now it had been proven to be all for nothing. Her best friend, the woman she loved like she was her own sister, was being taken away from her for many years to come.

She could only watch as the woman was cuffed away, led down the center of the courthouse and past her.

"Liz!" she shouted, reaching out, as if grabbing her could somehow stop all of this. Instead, she was pushed back by the man leading her out so that she fell back into Peter, who caught her. M.J.'s best friend hadn't so much as glanced her way until that point, but as her husband's arms remained all that steadied her, Liz suddenly shot a piercing, heavy gaze her way.

"I thought you would help me," she said. Her words were like venom being shot straight into M.J.'s heart. Was that true; had she not done enough to try and help her?

"I tried," she finally muttered, but by then it was too late, as Liz removed her gaze, with her and the men leading her nearing the exit.

"Liz, no!" she called out. "Liz!"


M.J. shot awake, breathing heavily as she did. She quickly glanced over to the other side of the bed, relieved to have found that her sudden awakening hadn't disturbed her husband's rest, with Peter seemingly remaining fast asleep. She put her hand to her face, running it through her hair as she allowed reality to settle into her mind once again, that Liz was far from convicted just yet, and that there was still a chance for her.

Still, her mind remained restless, so she lifted the covers off herself and slid out of bed, heading towards the kitchen. Grabbing a glass out of the cabinet, she had some water poured from the dispenser on the fridge door, taking a solid four gulps before finally removing the tip of the glass from her mouth, letting out a breath. She then thought she heard something, and she turned around to find Peter wandering out into the kitchen as well.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, rubbing his left eye as he stopped by the kitchen table, gripping the chair on the end for support.

"I guess not," she acknowledged, raising her glass as she prepared to take another drink. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's alright," he assured her. "I've dealt with much worse. What's going on?"

M.J. finished her most recent sip of her drink, taking a moment to think before answering.

"Bad dream."

"Oh?" Peter said, moving from the table and coming up until he was a few feet from her. "About what?"

"Liz," M.J. conceded; part of her didn't really want to talk about it, but it seemed better to get it out now than later. "I dreamt that she was convicted and sentenced to several years in prison."

Peter came closer to her, running his hand up and down her back, which helped to relax her only slightly. If nothing else, she appreciated the reminder that he was there for her.

"We're going to figure this out, M.J," he assured her.

M.J. hesitated to respond at first; part of her wanted to just accept her husband's encouragement, but the last part of her dream was still eating at her.

"She told me that it was my fault," she explained, glancing at Peter. "Before I woke up, as they were escorting her out, she questioned why I hadn't done more to help her."

"Hey," he said, rubbing her arms now as he stood in front of her. "That's crazy; you've done nothing but support her since this all started."

Despite Peter's encouragement, Mary Jane still had trouble holding off the cascade of emotions that were threatening to break through. She wiped her eye before speaking up again.

"Is this what it's like to be you? You know, always thinking that you can figure out how to save the day?"

"Something like that," Peter said with a light scoff.

"How do you handle that?" she asked. "How do you handle wanting to do something so bad to help someone, but feeling powerless to do it?"

"Hmm," Peter hummed, staring up at the ceiling for a moment even as he took her waist in his arms. "Well, I pretty much never take no for an answer. I keep going at it until I either find a way to fix the problem or I crash and burn miserably. If that happens, then I sulk, maybe brood a little if I'm being honest."

Mary Jane couldn't help but chuckle lightly at Peter's honesty. She wasn't sure if it was what he was saying or the way he was saying it or both, but he just seemed to have a knack for taking a depressing situation and lightening the mood ever so slightly.

"Okay, well, what would be a little healthier way to process all that?" she asked him.

"Oh wow, that's a tough one," he said, bringing out another chuckle from her. "Well, I'd probably not isolate myself; I actually know this really smart redhead who helps me sort through my feelings sometimes."

"Oh really?" she asked, feigning intrigue, "and what would she say right now?"

"She'd probably say something like how I shouldn't blame myself, that people make their own choices in life, that I did the best I could," he explained. "If I'm being honest, sometimes she doesn't say anything; sometimes she knows that I'm too far gone at the moment, and she stays there with me, so that I'm reminded that I don't have to carry all this guilt on my own."

M.J. let out a light huff of air through her nostrils.

"She sounds pretty smart."

"Oh yeah, she's the smartest person I know," Peter assured her.

"Well, I mean, if you say it, then it must be true, right?" she questioned, producing laughter from them both.

"For a situation like this though, I think she'd also say something about how I'm not to that point yet, how there's still time, and how we can still figure it out, together."

M.J. looked back up at him, her husband having her full focus again.

"This might be far from over," he said, "but for now, let's take that as a good thing. It means we have plenty of time to make sure that we go over everything we can to help her. Sound good?"

M.J. nodded repeatedly. Peter then leaned in, and she met him in the middle for a deep kiss.

"Thank you," she said once their lips separated. He just nodded.

"You ready to come back to bed?"

"In a minute," she said. "I still need a moment to let my own sage advice sink in."

"Woah woah," Peter said, acting as though some major revelation just happened. "Who said I was talking about you?"

"Get some sleep," she said through a light chuckle. "I'll be back in soon."


Peter walked in with Mary Jane, the two of them coming to the front row right behind where Liz and Matt were. Naturally, M.J. came up to Liz immediately, the two ladies greeting each other with as quick a hug as they could get in.

"It's going to be fine," M.J. tried to reassure her best friend.

"I hope so," Liz said, visibly nervous.

"I plan on making a motion," Matt said, "but, well, let's just say you're not going to like the grounds I make it on, Peter."

"Whatever you have in mind works for me," Peter said. Granted, he couldn't help but be curious about what Matt had in mind, but his questions would be answered shortly.

"I've got your bail money all set, so at least you should be able to come home," Mary Jane explained. "We can figure things out better from there."

"Okay," Liz said, letting out a breath. They then called for everyone to rise as the judge entered the courtroom, the older gentleman coming up and taking his seat, with everyone else doing the same.

"Case number 52, The People vs. Elizabeth Allan," the man read off. "The charge is the funding of an illegal money laundering operation. Does the defense have a plea to enter?"

"She does, your honor," Matt said, clutching his cane as he remained at his feet. "My client will be pleading not guilty, and if I may, your honor, the defense wishes to make a motion."

"Go ahead," the judge answered.

"The defense wishes to dismiss due to Fourth Amendment violations in the obtaining of the evidence against Ms. Allan," Matt explained.

"Oh?" the judge said, "and on what grounds are you basing this accusation, Mr. Murdock?"

"The evidence against my client was obtained during the police responding to Spider-Man, a known vigilante, busting up a criminal operation, rather than the police themselves. Therefore, no warrant was properly served to those involved, therefore the evidence against my client is tainted and inadmissible by law, your Honor."

Peter was simultaneously both floored and impressed by Matt's case. Really, it felt like a stroke of genius for his old friend to use the fact that his costumed alter ego was the first on the scene against him like that, but if it successfully got the charges dropped against Liz, then it would be worth it. Still, it kind of hurt to see one of his own essentially use their kind of activities against him like that. Plus, who knew what kind of precedent it would set if it went through.

"Your honor, may I remind you that this is hardly the first time evidenced obtained by Spider-Man was used in a case to convict someone," the prosecutor argued. "May I remind the defense of the evidence involved in getting Wilson Fisk incarcerated?"

"Well, I suppose when half of your police force is provably corrupt, then exceptions have to be made," Matt insisted. "But that is not the case hear, your honor; the New York police force has been redeveloped, the lead detective on this case nor any other officers involved have shown a hint of this corruption yet, except for a hastiness to go after a woman who's company may I point out who's has given more to charity over the last year than those three times its size."

"Wilson Fisk was big on charity too," the prosecutor countered. "Does that absolve him of his crimes?"

"That's enough, Mr. Prosecutor," the judge said before turning his attention back to Matt. "Mr. Murdock, while you state your case well, I find that the Good Samaritan exception added in the case of the Fisk trial applies here as well. Furthermore, due to the large number of individuals or groups likely involved in this operation which only Ms. Allan has been connected to so far, I am revoking her bail due to flight risk, and moving this case to trial."

"Your honor..." Matt began to protest.

"That's final, Mr. Murdock."

The judge then slammed his gavel down, closing the proceedings for the day. As everyone else got up and proceeded to leave, Peter could only stand there, observing as his wife watched on in horror as her best friend was being hauled away, with Liz equally if not even more in shock.

"How can they say she's a flight risk?" she questioned Matt. The man gave her no response, but it was clear to Peter that he'd hoped, maybe even let himself believe that it would work, and was as shocked as anyone else. As he took his leave behind his escorted client, M.J. turned to Peter.

"How could they say she's a flight risk?" she questioned him.

"I don't know," he replied. "Look, let me talk to Matt later. If they're going to say stuff that Spider-Man finds is admissible, then I'm going to make them regret that decision."


Peter walked into Matt's office building, having travelled there almost immediately after the arraignment. However, when he went up to the secretary, he discovered that he'd actually beat him there. Fortunately, it wasn't by much, as Matt came walking in with Karen just a few seconds after the woman had answered the question. The man immediately put his hand up in defense.

"If this was about what I said in there..."

"Actually, I thought it was genius, even if it did sting a little," Peter confessed. "In fact, it should have worked. You were right, the situation is different than Fisk, so why didn't they recognize that?"

Matt then took a moment to think before coming up to Peter so that they were standing right up to one another.

"I think we might be playing from further behind than we realized."

The man then turned and walked past his guest and towards his office, with Peter following him. Once they were in there, he spoke up.

"So, what's our next move?"

"I don't know," Matt confessed. "I need to look at the evidence again and see where I can poke holes."

"No, I mean, like, what's OUR next move?" he clarified, hoping the greater emphasis on his word choice would help Matt understand what he was actually asking. The man froze for a moment, his head hung low.

"It would be a conflict of interest," he finally replied. "I can't get involved like that."

"Oh come on," Peter protested, "that's never stopped you in a million other instances exactly this one."

"Peter..." Matt then paused, letting out a breath of frustration through his nose. He then walked out from behind his desk, coming right up to Peter as he had earlier.

"You carry on behind a mask, and that's fine," he continued, his tone pointed and a little subdued, "good, even. It's your way to help the world. For me, this is how I help people now. So, if you'll excuse me, I need to work on figuring out how to keep Ms. Allan out of jail."

Peter stared Matt in the face, a torrent of emotions surging through his body. He finally turned and left, taking his leave from the office and walking down the road. His frustration and confusion only grew as he walked for a couple blocks. However, he soon heard someone call his name, and he turned to see that Karen had caught up to him. The woman came alongside him.

"I'm sorry about that," she said. "Matt, he...he hasn't been quite himself for a while now."

"Why?" Peter questioned. "What happened?"

Karen hesitated, uncertainty written all over her face even as she glanced back in the direction of the office before turning back to Peter.

"Come with me," she said. "There's something you should know."


Hope you enjoyed it!

Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." Romans 12:3